My Cam Position Sensor took a dump on me this morning on the way to work so I towed it home and put in a new sensor. Since this seems to be a common issue I figured I'd post up a how to. I will also include the part number from Autozone, Advance, and Napa. All will be for the 2.0 SOHC.

Time to complete: Between 30 and 60 minutes depending on the car and you.

Tools needed:
10mm socket- Battery tray
13mm socket- Battery tray
8mm socket- Cam sensor
1/4" ratchet and extensions- Cam sensor removal
3/8" ratchet and extensions- Battery tray removal
Pliers- Hose clamps if stock or stock style
Flat head screwdriver- Removing the connector

Part Numbers:
Napa:
2000- MPE CSS702SB or ECH CSS702
2001- MPE CSS705SB or ECH CSS705
2002- MPE CSS705SB or ECH CSS705
2003- MPE CSS705SB or ECH CSS705
2004- MPE CSS705SB or ECH CSS705
2005- MPE CSS705SB or ECH CSS705

Autozone:
2000- SU3020
2001- SU3020
2002- SU3020
2003- SU3020
2004- SU3020
2005- SU3020

Advance:
2000- CSS34
2001- CSS34
2002- CSS34
2003- CSS34
2004- CSS34
2005- CSS34

First step is to remove the battery. Beer is optional but preferred, even at 9:30 in the morning.


Next thing to do that will help tremendously is to take off the battery tray. The red dots are 10mm and the blue dot at the front is a 13mm.


After that remove the 2 heater hoses. As you can see they're in the way. I took this pic with the battery tray still attached so you can see how little space there is to work with.


Vise-grips work awesome for getting those pesky clamps off and holding them open for you:




As you can see, without the hoses and tray there's a little more room to work with.



I took the connector off before taking off the hoses and battery tray but looking back it's smarter to do the connector after so coolant doesn't splash in there. You may have to wipe off some grease to see a little red piece in the connector. With your flat head screwdriver, push the front end(facing front of car) in until the other side pops out like in the picture. Then slide the connector off the sensor.


Remove the 4 bolts from the sensor with the 8mm socket. It gets kind of tricky because or how things are positioned. I used my extensions for the top ones and used a short socket with my 1/4" ratchet and got the bottom bolts from underneath. You'll be glad you took out the battery tray for this part.


After you pull the old sensor off, this is what you should see.


Put the new sensor on and put everything back together.

 

Nice post.

...I always thought the beer was a requirement. Hard work and all.....

 

Thanks. The beer was breakfast.

 

When I did mine, I worked through the heater tubes and wiring with my 1/4 extensions. In fact, I think the only thing I actually removed was the sensor and several beer cans.

 

Nice write-up! I just got the P0340 yesterday, out of the blue. I'll be picking up a new sensor and changing it out sooner than later.

 

Thanks, this is the first one I've done. If I tried going over 50 MPH or 2800 RPM in gear the RPMs would start geeking out and half of my drive is doing 60+. I'd rather spend $30 on a part now vs the cost of the timing going all screwey and messing things up.

 

i had to do my sensor about 2 months ago ... the sensor bolts area little bit of a pain in the @$$ to get out ... use some patence and it's all good ...

 

something else that helps a little is the hard lines in front of the sensor are held on by a metal angle just in front of the Cam Sensor...if you remove this bolt along with the flex lines as mentioned above then you have MORE than enough room to get to everything...

 

I have also had to replace mine twice.. since I have owned my 2004 (since 2006)
I have also done it just removing the battery

I have looked at this part, what is it about this part that goes bad?.. doesn't seem to have any moving parts to it... and why is it this is the only car I've owned that I have had to replace it?... bad design?

 

I haven't had to replace mine yet. 153kmiles...

Knock on wood.